Radial ball-bearing.



l. E. PRUYN.

RADIAL BALI. BEARING.

APPLlcAnou man str1. u. ma.

1,281,244. v Patented oct-8,1918.

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UNITED sTATEs PATENT yoEEi'oE.

JOHN ERNEST PRUYN, F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB OF ONE-HALF TO EMILY C. PRU'YN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

RADIAL BALLBEAEING.

1,281,244. Spwvativn 0f utters Patent Patented Oct. 8, 1918. Application Vtiled September 18, 191,8. Serial No. 119,806.

To all whom it may concern.' 4 showing the edge or periphery of the sepa- Be it known that I, JOHN ERNEST PRUYN, rator in elevation; and a citizen of the United States, residing at 6 is a sectional detail view. Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia., Li e reference numerals indicate like and State of Pennsylvania, have invented parts in thediii'erent views. 60 certain new and useful Improvements in My improved bearing comprises an in- Radial Ball-Bearings, of which the followner ring 1, having an annular groove2 in its ing is a full, clear, and exact description. outer periphery, an outer ring 3 having an E My invention is designed for the producannular groove 4 on its inner periphery, a

tion of an improved ball bearing o'f theV raseries of balls 5, and a ball separator 6. 65 dial type, which shall have all of the ad- When these parts are completely assembled, vantages of construction and operation of the bearing constitutes a unitary device, all old'forms of suchbearings and none of the of the parts 1being interlocked so that they disadvantages thereof. The bearing lis a are incapable of separation in ordinary use.4 unitary device. VIt comprises an integral The rings 1 and 3 of the bearing are co"n 70 inner ring, an integral outer ring with centric, as shown, and both are composed of grooves or racew'ays inl the o posing surextremely hard steel in order to properly 4faces of said rings, and balls tting within sustain the wear to which the bearing is subsaid grooves of greater diameter than the jected.. The grooves 2 and 4 form the n E space between said rings outside said raceway for the balls 5, the said grooves 75` grooves. The two rings are concentric the being uninterrupted throughout their ciropposing surfaces thereofare homogeneous cumference, and overhanging a portion of and the grooves or raceways therein are conthe balls, so that in the completed beartinuous and uninterrupted throughout their ing the balls are incapable'of accidental y 26 circumference. The number of balls within displacement or removal from the raceway. 80 the grooves or raceways is greater than can As the grooves 2 and 4 overhang a portion be introduced by theeccentric displacement of the balls 5, it follows that the distance be- -of the two. rings, preferably occupying not tween the rings 1 and 3, on opposite sides of less than eighty per cent. of the total ball the grooves 2 and 4, is less than the diameter 30 ca acity of the grooves. And the rings and of the balls 5. `The inner surface of the 85 bals are wholly undistorted-during the opouter ring 3 on both sides of the groove 4 erationof assembling t e parts of the beartherein, is spherical, as shown Aat 6, the ceni' 4 f ter of the sphere upon which said surface is llhe details of the invention will ,hereinformed being coincident with the lcenter of 85 after appear and the novel features thereof the bearing, that is, coincident with the axis 90 will be set forth in the claim. of the bearing and inthe plane of the centers My improved bearing has been illustrated of the balls 5. The number Aof balls emin connection with the method of assemployed is as large asthe raceway will hold bling` thesame. i in connectionl with a separater of'suicient 40 In the drawing: strength to withstand the strain to which the 95 Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the bearing is subjected. The number of balls n outer and inner bearing rings, with the balls is greater than can be inserted into the race` and temporary retainer'therefor, the partsA way by an eccentric displacement of the being shown in the positions in 4which they rings land 3, and is preferably not less than are placed at the beginning of the assem- 80% of the total bal capacity of said race- '100 bling operation; way. e* n Fig. 2 is 'a sectionat ri ht angles to Fig. i The separator 6 is preferably constructed 1, showing theparts as t ey approach the; from a single piece of metal. It is-annular 's completion ofthe assembling operation; in form, comprising a fiat base 7 having a Fig. 3 is an irregular section showin the series of upwardly-extending ribs 8- thereon 106 parts `assembled,priorto the removal o the forming between them the pockets 9 in` which temporary ball retainer; E v the balls 5 lit. flhe number of thepockets Fig. 4 is a sectional plan view of the bear- 9 corresponds With the number of. the balls v ing .with the ball separator in place; employed. Each of the pockets 9 is formed` 56 Fig. -5 is a section at right angles to Fig. with a recess 10 in the bottom thereof, and 110 fit loosely Within the pockets 9, with their said rings.

inner and outer portions projecting radially from opposite sides of the separator, but are held equally spaced from each other by the ribs 8 of said separator. Due to the concaved surfaces 10 on the -ribs 8, the pockets -9' are narrower on opposite sides of the separator, than the diameter of the balls5, so that the balls may enter the pockets l9 only through the ends thereof, and so that when in said pockets the balls are held against movement in any direction except that in which they were introduced. The ends of the ribs 8 of the separator are ra- `dially split or divided, as by saw kerfs 11, forming the branches or bifurcations 12, and the sides of said ribs are notched or otherwise weakened in linewith the centers of the balls 5, as shown at 11. The ends of said ribs are thus adapted to be spread apart or separated in order to close the entrances to the pockets 9 through which the balls are admitted, and to lock the separator and the balls to each other. When the bearing rings 1 and 3' and the balls 5 have been assembled, in the manner to be described later, the bearing is completed by connecting up the separator 6 with these parts. The separator is inserted Vinto the annular space between the rings 1 and 3, with the balls 5 fitting, respectively, in Vthe pockets 9 of said separator. This may be readily done, for it will b e remembered that the balls are free to enter the pockets 9 through the ends of the latter, and, the width of the annular base 7 of the separator being less than that'of the annular space between the rings 1 and 3, the said base is free to pass between In order to permanently connect ythe separator 6 with the remaining-portions of the bearing, to produce a -Iunitary structure, the biurcated -ends o the ribs 8 of the separator are-spread so that thebranches 12 thereof'on opposite sides ofthe pockets 9are caused to approach each other,

- until the original entrance o enings into said Apockets are contracted to ess than the diameters of the balls therein. Thus, the separator 6 is locked to the remaining parts 4of the bearin i by the engagement of the bent ends 12 of .t e ribs 8 Wit the balls 5, and is prevented from being .removed in the manner in which it was introduced into the space between. the rings 1 and 3. The balls 5 occupying substantially 80% of tli'e s ace between -the rings 1 and 3, are thus hel in equally spaced relation with each other so as to. equalize the load on the dilerent balls of the bearin Radial balbearings of this general character have heretofore been" devised and put into commercial use, but in the production of such bearings,- prior inventors have sac- -rificed one or another feature of construction or advantage which experience has recognized as essential. For example, it has been proposed to make a radial bearing of two concentric rin havin raceway-grooves therein, balls fitting wit in said ooves and a separator for the balls, the sai rings bein integral, and the grooves overhanging the alls so that a unitary structure is produced. Such bearing is assembled by introducing the balls between the rings into a crescent-shaped space caused by the .eccen- Itric displacement ofthe rings and using a separator to hold the balls widely spaced apart. This bearing, while embodying many of the features of advanta e of my bearing, is defective in that the ful complement of balls cannot be used. The greatest number of balls that can be employed in such abearing is but little-over 50% of the total ba-ll capacity of the bearing. This reduction in the number of balls is made at the expense of the strength and durability vof the bearing. Another old form of radial bearing vis one comprising two concentric rings with balls between them, the raceway grooves in the rings overhangin the balls, and a sepa rator, the parts of t e device being assem.

metal of the rings necessarily weakens the saine. While the full number of balls may be employed in this form of bearin ,--an

- advantage over the other bearing re erred to,-strength and durability ofthe bearing have been sacriced forthis advantage.v third form of radial bearing in which the full ,complement of balls is employed, but.

which has other defects, is one in which the balls are introduced into the overhanging raceway groovesl between the two bearing rings through filling openings in one or both to the depth of of the rings running nearly thegroove and through which the balls are introduced one at a time, the openings in such bearings bein sometimes plu ged up afterward. The

disadvantage of t is con,-v

structionV is obviously that a weak point in which the balls the bearing surface alon one of the balls travel is left and in whic is apt to become wedged.

.B my invention, I bean which has all of the advantages of the ol types of radial bearings referred to, with none ofthe disadvantages thereof. In vso doing, I employ overhanging raceway ves 1in the two concentric rings and ereby produce a unitary device, I employ dispense complement of balls, I

aim to produce l 100. further reason that the distortion of the with fillin r openings, and. I do not vand there y weaken the material of the .itis t and 2 1 forming through which the screws 15 pass. By this rinlgs during the assembli: operation.

ofacilitate the assembling of the parts of bearing, I emplo a; tempo ball retainer or clamp for ho ding the ba s 5 the groove 2 ofthe nnerring 1 in onefor more groups so that the inner ring with the balls connected therewith may be readily passed into the outer ring 3 at right angles to the latter. This retainer or c amp may construction I' it will be seen thatl when the ball clamlpe or retainer is `in place, the'balls 5 areloc d in the groove2in the ring 1, are held in the bottom of said groove, and are separated into twogroups on opposite sides ofthe solid rtions 22, each o said ups containing the balls to be used Affina finished bearing. with the bans separated -in groups, as shown'and described,

L the distance across the assembled inner rin and balls is le along theline 23throug the solid portion 22 than at any other point.

In assembling my improved. bearing, the outer member or ring 3 is heated to the point at which the temper isI drawn, and thereby expanded. The balls 5 are placed about the.

inner ring `1 and held there by thel temporary ball retainer or clampv 13, 14. This mner member or unitcompri'sing the inner ring, the balls and the temporary ball retainer, 1s

then` chilled so as to contract it as much as possible. When the various'parts haveacquired the proper temperatures, the inner member is placed at rightangles to the outer `member and moved to the interior of the outer member until the center thereof coincides with the center of the outer member as shown in Fig. 1. Thsmovement is ren.-l

dered possible by the-separation of the balls 5 into grou s, as described, and the bringing of the soli n ortions 22 ofthe ball retainer into coninci ence with the diameter of the outer member. The inner member is then lgiven a partial turn until the balls 5 thereon almost engage the inner surface of the outer positions.

balls, the Sides` of said ri member as shown in Fig2 and then `the inner member is swurlizg into its proper nal posltion as shown in 1g. `3. In assembling, the rmgs 1 and 3 are-not eccentrically dis- ,placedwith respect to each other. In fact the center of the inner ring must be mantained atthecenter of the outer ring, be-

cause if the two rings are only slightly displaced eccentricall undue reure must be used to assemb e them.` s the ring 1` with the balls 5 attached `thereto is turned `during Athe assembling operationwith its ,geometric center coincident with `the geo`4 metrlc center of the outer ring 3, uponwhich center` the spherical curvature of' the inner surface 6* of the outer-ringis generated, `the balls 5 on the inner ring ride upon the inclined s herical surface. 6'* of the outer ring 3 outsi e the groove 4 therein,

but 'do not rub or abrade said outerring or distort or stretch it in an way. This result is obtained partially gy the formation of. the spherical surface 6 on the outer ring 3 and partially by the ex ansion of the outer ring and contraction o the inner ring, due to the `different temperatures em-` ployed in assembling. The depth of the.

groove 4l should correspond withl the degree of expansion of the outer rin 3 when subjected to heat, sothatthe bal s will be free r to pass'over theispherical surface of'the outer ring without rubbing or abrading it, and yyet will be partially inclosed bythe groove 4 inthe ring 3 when the parts have resumed their A mdial'ball bearing comprising ltwo conves inl centric having annular their opposing faces, balls in said `grooves and a separator for the balls, the whole constituting a unitary structure, the separator normal temperatures and comprismg a base'havin' a series of ribs extending therefrom formn pockets forfthe being notched in line with the centers of the balls; and the ends thereof being radially slitted, the,

branches thus formed being spread apart to contract the mouths of said pockets and 'lock the separator to the balls.

In Witness whereof I subscribe my signature, in the presence of two witnesses.

JOHN ERNEST PRUYN. Witnesses: v `WM. M. STOCKBRIDGE,

Wsnno` M. CHAPINK. 

